As I opened Hannah’s bedroom door, I realised that it was redecorated in a dazzling tribute to the cartoon “Danny Phantom”. Danny’s pictures were stuck everywhere, from the ceiling, right up to her closet door, her mirror was in the shape of Danny’s schoolbag and her bedsheets had Danny on them. “Wow,” I said out loud, “and to think you’re turning 16 next week. Talk about irony.”
“Oh come on, Lee-Ann, speak for yourself” Hannah ended her statement with a playful roll of her eyes. Even though I had been friends with Hannah ever since Primary 5, I still did not know what kept that girl always sparkly and bright. Hannah was tall for her age, ever since in Primary school, she has always been standing at the class row with the boys during photo-taking sessions. Being in the school’s track team ever since Primary school really helped her with her tan and toning up her body. With long glossy dark brown hair, brown radiant eyes, fun personality. What’s not to like?
On the other hand, I, Lee-Ann, was pretty well-known for being non-existent at school and I was a member of more clubs than anyone else in school had: Debate team, Welfare Organisation, Science Club, Photography Crew, Swimming Team and the list goes on. I was considered a tad short for my age, long hair at the darkest shade of black, and thank goodness I traded my heavy 1000 degree glasses to contact lenses or I would have been crowned “Nerd of the year”.
It was a hot Tuesday afternoon of the June holidays and I was helping Hannah pick out clothes for her big date with her boyfriend, Ivan.
“Now, blue or silver?” She raised two long identical shimmering dresses, one on each hand.
“Definitely, blue.” I replied, as I flipped open a photo album with a cover page flooded with pictures of, you’ve guessed it, Danny Phantom.
“Oh my god!” I exclaimed, as my right hand flew dramatically towards my mouth, “isn’t this the camp we went to when we were 11, when we first became friends?! Remember?”
“How could I not forget? You still had those mega-huge glasses resting on your head and dumb braces then.” She answered with a playful nudge on my elbow.
As I flipped through the album, scenes from the leadership camp flooded my mind. The first picture showed Hannah and I, having our attendance marked and being paired up. I vividly remember the entire scene whereby I was so sad I could not pair up with my friend then, that I cried for an hour straight.
The next picture showed Hannah and I, participating in a three - legged race. We did not have an idea how to go about in completing the race. We were still in the midst of our “silent-thinking” when we noticed the other pairs fumbling on the last free metres away from the finishing line. We looked at each other silently, as if we had the power of telepathy, we eyed the finishing line and hopped all the way there at our optimum speed. Other teams must have been too amazed that they actually stopped to observe us, and that was how we won the race.
The third picture showed us on a mountain. Even though I had only been 11 then, I had already the brain of a thinking scentist, and having to stop every few metres eventually made Hannah annoyed. Eventually Hannah marched on, lost her footing and fell into a huge hole. I threw the flower aside and tried ways and means to get her out. As silly as it seems, I sat by the hole to accompany her instead of looking for help. She started crying, not because the hole was deep, but because of the amount of insects she had attracted. I comforted her by showing her pictures of the flora I had taken. The camp facilitators found us three hours later and brought us back to the campsite.
The next picture showed us declining from a rock-climbing wall, hand-in-hand. We both wore happy yet goofy smiles on our faces. I remember I had a bad case of height-phobia and I was on the brink of wetting my pants as I wore the harness and helmetMy heart was beating like the speed of the bullet trains in Japan. Just when I was about to swat down and cry, Hannah grabbed my hand and passed me her good-luck bracket her grandma made for her. I put it on and we held hands as we arrived the top and hit the buzzer.
Hannah smacked me on the back and I fell right back into reality.
“Ding Dong, anyone home? Now come on, should I do a last-minute perm to my hair? Now have you seen…” Hannah smiled playfully as she searched frantically for her curler.
“Nope, come on you’re pretty enough already! You can probably clinch Miss Universe right now, with your eyes closed!” I shook my head as I put the album back in place. “Now get going! Don’t want Ivan to wait too long for you!” I teased as I clung onto her arm and exited her house. We spotted Ivan at the lift lobby, dressed as adorable as Hannah was.
“Go have fun!” I smiled as I waved.
“Thanks, Lee-Ann, for the afternoon. I really didn’t know what I’d do without you.” Hannah came up to me with a friendly hug.
“Hey, what are friends for?”
-Estelle
Labels: narrative
